Chatra Alternatives for Shopify Stores in 2026

The top Chatra alternative is AeroChat. It answers from your Shopify store, sends a payment link and confirms the order inside the chat, and runs on WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, Telegram, TikTok Shop buyer chat, web chat and email at one plan price. Other options are Shopify Inbox, Chatty, Tidio, Chatway, Willdesk and Zipchat. Each suits a different kind of business, and each is priced in a different way.

Why businesses look for a Chatra alternative

Chatra’s Shopify App Store reviews are mostly positive. The few critical ones mention billing changes and slow replies when something went wrong. Beyond reviews, these are the reasons a store usually starts comparing:

• Priced per agent. Chatra’s paid plans are priced per agent a month, so the bill grows with the team, as of November 2026.
• No WhatsApp in the listed channels. Chatra lists live chat, Messenger, Instagram and email. Stores whose customers use WhatsApp, Telegram or TikTok Shop need those answered too.
• A person in the loop. Chatra is built around live agents chatting with shoppers. Stores want routine questions answered when no one is online.
• Finishing the sale in the chat. Some stores want the customer to pay inside the conversation, not be sent back to the cart.

The alternatives

1. AeroChat

AeroChat is chat infrastructure that runs your customer service and sales workflows, Built for Shopify. It answers product, stock and order questions from your store on Shopify, WooCommerce or Wix, verifies the customer before sharing an order, sends an Airwallex payment link, detects the payment and confirms the order in the same conversation, and in Malaysia books the delivery with POS Malaysia. It runs on WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, Telegram, TikTok Shop buyer chat, web chat and email, and supports Shopee and Lazada. You describe a workflow in your own words, paste in the key of any system with a public API, and AeroChat builds it.

• Suits: Shopify stores that want customers to ask, pay and get delivery updates in one chat, on every channel they use.
• Pricing model: flat monthly plans sized by AI responses, with no per-resolution fees. Your team’s replies use no credits, admin users are not limited, and your contact list does not change the plan. See the pricing page.
• Keep in mind: payment links start on the Growth plan, and AeroChat starts with a 7-day free trial.

2. Shopify Inbox

Shopify’s own chat app. Its Inbox agent answers product questions, makes recommendations, helps with order lookups and adds items to the cart, using your catalog, policies, pages and Knowledge Base.

• Suits: stores that want free chat on their online store with an AI agent built by Shopify.
• Pricing model: free to install, as of November 2026. Shopify’s help center says Inbox is available on the Basic, Grow, Advanced and Shopify Plus plans.
• Limitation: the Inbox agent only works in your online store’s chat widget, needs new customer accounts, and asks customers to sign in before it looks up an order.

3. Chatty AI Chatbot & Live Chat

A Shopify app with live chat, an AI shopping assistant and an FAQ page, covering live chat, email, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp.

• Suits: Shopify stores that want an AI assistant on their website with product answers drawn from the catalog.
• Pricing model: by AI conversations. Free includes 50 a month, Basic is US$19.99 a month for 100, Pro US$68.99 for 500 and Plus US$199 for 1,000, with US$0.40 for each one over the plan, as of November 2026.
• Limitation: a busy month moves you up a plan or onto per-conversation charges. See Chatty vs AeroChat.

4. Tidio

Live chat and a help desk with the Lyro AI agent and automated Flows, covering live chat, email, WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger.

• Suits: small teams that want live chat and an AI agent in one tool, with website chat at the center.
• Pricing model: by conversations. Starter is US$24.17 a month for 100 billable conversations, and Lyro starts at US$32.50 a month for 50 AI conversations, as of November 2026.
• Limitation: team conversations, AI conversations and Flows visitors are counted separately, so you size three numbers instead of one.

5. Chatway Live Chat & AI Chatbot

A live chat widget, shared inbox and help center with an AI Support Agent, covering live chat, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram and email, with iOS and Android apps.

• Suits: small teams that want a live chat widget and inbox with low entry pricing and pay-per-resolution AI.
• Pricing model: by seats and conversations. Free covers 1 seat and 50 conversations a month. Business is US$39 a month, or US$31 billed annually, for 2 seats and 200 conversations. Plus is US$199, or US$159 billed annually, for 10 seats and 1,000 conversations. The AI Support Agent is US$0.50 per resolved conversation, as of November 2026.
• Limitation: Chatway says that when a plan reaches its monthly conversation limit, the team can’t reply to new conversations. See Chatway vs AeroChat.

6. Willdesk

A Shopify live chat, AI chatbot and helpdesk app with ticketing, a help center and order tracking, and unlimited agents on every plan.

• Suits: small Shopify stores that want a helpdesk and help center in the same app as their chat.
• Pricing model: by conversations a month, from a free tier with 20 conversations, with extra conversations, tracked orders and AI conversations charged in blocks of 100, as of November 2026.
• Limitation: AI conversations are charged on top of the plan’s conversation count. See Willdesk vs AeroChat.

7. Zipchat

An AI agent for ecommerce brands, with website chat, AI search and product page answers, plus WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger and email.

• Suits: stores that want AI search and product page answers on their website, run by the same agent as the chat.
• Pricing model: by AI replies, from US$64 a month billed annually for 750 replies, as of November 2026.
• Limitation: Zipchat says TikTok Shop is not one of its channels. See Zipchat vs AeroChat.

Comparison table

Prices and channels from each company’s own pricing page, website or Shopify App Store listing, checked 11 November 2026: Chatra, Shopify Inbox, Chatty, Tidio, Chatway, Willdesk, Zipchat.

How to choose

• List the channels your customers use. If buyers message you on WhatsApp, Instagram and TikTok Shop, the tool has to answer there, not only on your website.
• Check where the sale ends. Decide whether the chat should hand the customer back to the cart, or take the payment and confirm the order in the conversation.
• Price your own volume. Count a month of customer messages, then work out the bill on each tool’s unit: agents, conversations, AI conversations or resolutions.
• Test it on your hardest question. Ask about a real order and an out-of-stock variant on the trial and see whether the answer comes from your store data.
• Check what happens when the AI cannot help. Look at how a conversation reaches your team and what your team sees when it does.

Questions

What is the top alternative to Chatra?

AeroChat. It answers from your Shopify store at any hour, adds WhatsApp, Telegram and TikTok Shop buyer chat, and takes the payment in the chat, with no charge per agent.

Is there a free alternative to Chatra?

Shopify Inbox is free to install, and Chatty, Chatway and Willdesk have free tiers, as of November 2026. AeroChat has a 7-day free trial.

Which alternative works on WhatsApp?

AeroChat, Chatty, Chatway, Tidio, Willdesk and Zipchat all list WhatsApp, as of November 2026.

How is Chatra priced?

A free tier with 5 conversations a month, then Essential and Pro plans priced per agent, as of November 2026. See Chatra vs AeroChat.

Try the top Chatra alternative on your store

Install AeroChat, connect your store and a channel, and ask your own number about an order you shipped this week.

Install AeroChat on Shopify

7-day free trial.